David Artell is hoping that our final home game of the season against Shrewsbury Town on Sunday will be our last without supporter presence inside stadiums.

The Alex have only played twice in front of fans this season and we were one of the luckier ones with Covid-19 regulations preventing football from being a spectator sport for most of the campaign.

Hopefully we are coming through the other side and we can welcome fans back in pre-season in readiness for the 2021/22 season.

Ahead of our meeting with Shrewsbury this weekend, the gaffer told us: “Hopefully this will be the last game without the supporters because it has not been the same for anyone. It has been tough  and we really appreciate the support we have had from our fans through the subscriptions and them following us from afar if you like.

“We know they have been there with us and I can only thank them for that.

“We knew that when football could return safely that we had a responsibility to give something back to the community and I think we have tried to do that both on and off the pitch. Everyone has worked hard because we know how important football is to our supporters. To some it is literally their life and to have that taken away and all that comes from going to watch their team on a Saturday or a Tuesday was tough on a lot of them.

“It has been a demanding season, none more so on the players and staff. I think we had something like 11 or 12 straight weeks when we were playing Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday – it was ridiculous really but it is something we had to do to make sure the football continued.

“I think the players deserve great credit for that because it was relentless. They have come through it and hopefully we will have supporters back for pre-season, never mind in August and we can see some smiling faces back at the stadium.”